History Rhymes
- aaron * erin * rain weiss
- Feb 29, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Mar 12, 2024
February 29, 2024 - Brooklyn NY
The hatred of the Jewish people at large, hides behind the anti- Zionist movement in the West; and is quite terrible at hiding. Especially when you look right at it, like I often do. Looking into the details, I find historic patterns of anti-semitism, manifesting into our present society. I see haunting characteristics of the rampant anti-semitism that swept through Nazi and Soviet Union eras. Today it shows its face once again, with shifting masks of attempted disguise.
The Nazis deployed numerous methods in their attempt to reduce the Jewish people to ash. One distinct tactic was the pursuit of humiliation and isolation. Hitler painted the picture of the Jew being like dirty vermin. The good German was to avoid the Jew at all costs, and to celebrate their torture and extinction. Their tactic was to make the Jewish person feel like they were not even human, undeserving to be alive at all.
Humiliation and isolation is a widespread phenomena in the West. People often feel alone, and ashamed of their authentic selves. Some perform to celebrate, but ultimately it’s an attempt to cover up their loneliness, perpetuated by the isolative culture. This prompts me to think about the queer culture in the West. Often, individuals of this demographic feel shamed and outcasted by their society. It feels good for them to call this out, and not only to advocate for themselves, but for other oppressed people.
Their internalized shame and pursuit of social justice is a motivator to align with the Palestinian movement. The bitter irony is, the Palestinian people don’t align themselves with queer and progressive people. Their authoritative regime is actually quite violent towards people like this.
The queer and progressive movement to liberate Palestine doesn’t actually achieve the goal they claim to pursue. Instead it projects their own internalized shame onto a vulnerable group, the Jewish people. Many aren’t even aware of what they are advocating for, instead simply motivated to go with the mass movement. At first glance this might seem like an innocent mistake, but it is actually quite intensely sinister.
In Nazi Germany, the Germans also felt humiliated and isolated. It was a historic low for them, after the First World War. The Nazis captured the mind of the German, by projecting their shame onto a vulnerable target, the Jew. Many Germans didn’t really think about the full weight of the Nazi doctrine. They just absorbed it, and casting shame onto a vulnerable group lifted their downtrodden spirits. The movement turned widespread, and became the normal day to day societal agenda.
Cultural erasure was heavily deployed in historic anti-semitism, just as it is today. Nathan Sharansky, a survivor of the Soviet Gulag and a zionist hero, relates the current state of things to the Soviet Union. He grew up in a society that had completely erased the Jew.
He was completely assimilated, and couldn’t speak a word about Judaism without getting into trouble with the KGB, the secret police. After reading about Israel through underground and forbidden books, he felt determined to live there. He was involved with a radical activist movement, the refusniks, who wanted to escape their hostile conditions by immigrating to Israel. This landed him in the Gulag for years, with his dream of moving to Israel alive within him.
He warns of the similarities of today’s diasporic anti- semitic culture, relating it to the Soviet Union. He speaks to the inability of expressing your identity and alliance with Israel. People are monitored of what they say, and stripped of an identity that shapes who they are. By identifying actively with being Jewish and allied with Israel, they are socially outcasted and threatened with physical and psychological danger.
When people speak of intersectionality of social justice, they are rhyming with Marxist ideology. This ideology suggests that history is a pattern of oppressor and oppressed, and that the Marxist ideal is to rise up against the oppressed. They use the same categorical thinking to designate Israel as the oppressor and Palestine as the oppressed. While it makes for easily digestible ideology, it is extremely removed from the reality of the situation. But that’s not important to them. It’s essential that the ideology takes off as a mass movement, not a nuanced conversation of history and ethics.
I have experienced my fair share of their isolating and shameful tactics. People have tried to convince me that I am not Israeli. I tell strangers that I’m from Colorado, because I am afraid to say that I am from Israel. The mass movement of anti- Zionism is attempting to erase Israel, by advocating for not accepting our right to exist. Academic faculty have corrected me when I have told them I am from Israel, they have said, ‘do you mean Palestine?’ Generally though, I avoid confrontations. This means that I isolate myself from engaging with most people beyond a surface level. This is what it means for me to live safely in the diaspora.
Strangely, these movements have their roots in academia. A place that historically has been segregated from Jewish people until recently, is once again hostile to Jewish people and specifically Israelis. Classically, it is their tactic of isolation being deployed. In the Nazi era, Jewish people were not welcome in societal institutions. And today, it is becoming increasingly clear how unwelcome Israelis and Jewish people are as well.
Reading anti- Zionist academic essays is required in my American college in a class called ‘Emancipatory Education.’ Further, my writing professor has recommended that I read Al-Jazeera, for my international news. The other week, I was reading Micah Goodman’s Catch-67; a fantastic book on Israeli politics. I looked over at the other table in the coffee shop, and I saw Columbia School of Journalism students writing an essay about the freedom fighters in Gaza.
Columbia School of Journalism is where Daniel Gordis graduated from, an amazing author and scholar of Israeli history. Now it is a hotbed of the anti- Zionist mass movement. We can all see the violent demonstrations sweeping through American college campuses. Putting Jewish people at risk of physical and psychological violence, just because they are a part of the student body.
In the Nazi era, anti- semitism was also supported as an intellectually backed movement. Given the fact that Jewish culture supports academic and intellectual pursuits, this was aimed to attack the Jewish intellectuals. From Carl Jung, Heidegger and other prominent intellectuals of Europe at this time, it was systematically widespread. Anyone who disagreed with these intellectuals, had to find refuge in isolation, or face the wrath of the Nazi regime.
The topic of media exploitation demands attention. An accusation of Jewish control of the media is coming into the mainstream again, reminiscent of the Nazi era. The truth is, before the Nazi take over of Europe, the ‘emancipated Jew,’ was very passionate about being involved with media, social institutions and the arts. They saw this as an opportunity to integrate into the dominant culture.
It was met with hostility, and an ideological belief that the Jewish people are trying to control the media, and society at large. What fueled this anti-semetic ideology was the international scope of the Jewish people. It led to the belief that Jewish people were twisting the media, and public perception, to support their international control.
Similarly now, the accusation is prominent that the diasporic Jewish community controls the media to support Israel. The wild thing is, observing the media produces the opposite result. The media is largely a business, and is motivated to meet the demands of its consumers. So if the consumers at large are motivated to demonize Israel, the media will follow suit. This is evidently seen as the media skews the reality of the war to favor anti-zionist views.
I bring up the example of the hospital that was bombed in Gaza. Israel was blamed for the bombing in the media. The hospital was being used as a terrorist cell, and had rocket launchers based around it. Israel published evidence that Hamas actually bombed its own hospital, with a misfired rocket. This was confirmed by the US government, but was met with silence by the media. People didn’t want to hear about the fact that they wrongly accused Israel. They prefer to project their own shame onto Israel, and not to own up to their misled accusations. The silence of their hypocrisy is overwhelming.
In the Nazi era, they declared that the media was controlled by Jewish people for their plot of world domination. The Nazis said this, while actually using the media to disperse misinformation and propaganda against the Jewish people. It was being used to construct mass movements, unifying against a common enemy. By mechanically reproducing digestible messages of hate, they turned the media into a propaganda machine. Ring any bells?
The insistent grip on attaching to cultural trends has been manipulated by their propaganda tactics. The social media movement of spreading misinformation, and blindly shaming Israel has literally taken to the streets with a storm. Commonly, people want to be a part of a movement that everyone else is a part of. They want to be in with the crowd, of what is happening, keeping up with the trend. It’s intoxicating, and effectively contagious at spreading hate. It’s the same energy that has supported mass movements of the past as well.
Hannah Arrendt speaks to how easily replicated evil is, that it just seems ordinary. To me, this speaks to the dimensions of what’s happening. How it just seems normal, almost expected for mass movements to form. We are so used to people demonizing Jewish people as a projection of their own internalized shame and hatred.
Easily, these movements become ingrained into the social fabric of the West. The message is replicated through its forced integration into the academic and social institutions. Just by people progressing through their lives, they absorb these ideological doctrines. This catalysts mass movements to become unstoppable, until their bitter ends. They can’t be questioned or challenged. Not without facing the consequences of their projected and systematic, shaming, isolation, and physical violence.
The shocking reality is further pronounced, when we can clearly see that it’s not really a hidden reality at all. Hamas deeply believes and aligns with Nazi and Marxist ideals. The IDF has found the Mein Kampf translated into Arabic in Hamas’s headquarters in Gaza. Their tactics are literally textbook anti-semitism. The reality is actually, shockingly clear.
I find it challenging to know if I am over-reacting, or being dramatic. Often the conclusions I draw can come down to subjective experience, and as an Israeli I am biased. My dad likes to point out though, biased motivations in trying to stay alive are not exactly biased. Truthfully, I hope that my assessment is wrong, that everything is ok in our present society. I am not going to count on it though.
I think criticism of Israel doesn’t necessarily spell out anti-semetism. In fact, self criticism is one of Israel’s strongest traits. I respect a nuanced perspective of the topic at hand. There is an abundance of perspectives, and people utilizing their free speech to demonstrate those perspectives. Most dominantly though, I do not find nuanced and supportive conversation on this topic. Usually, I find exactly what I shared in this essay. I advocate for in depth learning and communication, rather than dogmatic alignment with mass movements.
One of the many ironies of the Zionist experience is how anti- semitism only fuels it. I am definitely finding myself reacting to this war more Zionistic than ever. And one my biggest admirations of Zionism and Judaism, is the celebration of comprehensive learning and conversation. This has me passionately writing and reading about the topic at hand.
I find myself putting my hopes and dreams into Israel. There is a concern that Israel will need to isolate itself from the rest of the world, due to the current situation. I hope this is not the case, but I think we need to prepare ourselves. My experience is only one of a large transformation and reconciliation in the Jewish community. We see the importance of focusing and investing more directly in Israel. I am excited to see and be a part of how that continues to play out.
Remember, the Jewish people have always come out of our darkest periods of time with more light than ever. I am looking forward to riding the waves of light emanating from this dark time.
Sources:
https://youtu.be/55538oPYXig?si=jTHZQLYJf4qSl_-Y - Nathan Sharansky
https://youtu.be/sx1hLz1yL8M?si=WCp8GgOPVpJ6v6dQ - Hannah Arendt
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